At this rate, Augusta National could be in danger of shedding its reputation for stuffiness and past discrimination. The place is almost turning radical.

A matter of weeks after the club admitted its first female members, it has been confirmed that a 14-year-old will compete in next year's Masters. Whatever next?

Guan Tianlang is not yet allowed to legally drive along Magnolia Lane and will have to request time out of school before he will tee up alongside Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods et al in the season's first major. Guan won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Thailand at the weekend with an aggregate score of 15 under par.

There will be inevitable sniffy comments about the Masters participation of Guan, by those who believe the flagship event should only feature those with a genuine chance of mounting a challenge for the Green Jacket. The Chinese teenager has already conceded he must work on his driving distance, which raises a question over how he will handle Augusta's current, ferocious length of 7,435 yards.

Yet the Masters retains a strong and admirable association with the amateur branch of golf. The great Bobby Jones was one of 11 amateurs who competed in the Masters – then called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament – back in 1934.

Next year Guan will become its' youngest competitor, breaking the record set by then-16-year-old Matteo Manassero in 2010. Manassero, impressively, even made the cut.

A wider and more pertinent issue is how the growth of the game in the far east and China in particular will be aided by Guan's achievement. Woods and McIlroy are among those who are offered – and accept – lucrative sums to compete in events in Asia, the latest being the "Duel at Jinsha Lake" last week.

Afterwards, McIlroy said: "The growth of the game here has been huge even in the few years I've been visiting and I really hope games like these can inspire some kids who want to play. I wouldn't be surprised at all if one of the next great players was to come from China."

Therein lies the key – for while China's appetite for golf is obvious, no iconic male player has yet emerged to endorse and encourage that feeling. Attention will now turn to whether or not Guan can become a torch-carrier.

Guan's emergence could inspire, of that there is no question, to a level which money and exhibition matches in China could not equal. His level of competitive progress before and after the Masters will prove as much of an indicator than what takes place in a one-off week in Georgia but how one so young handles one of golf's biggest stages will prompt understandable intrigue.

It would, nonetheless, be incorrect to view Guan's success in isolation. Andy Zhang, who was also 14, became the youngest player since 1865 to play in a major when featuring in this year's US Open at the Olympic Club. Zhang was coaxed to a golf academy in the United States when aged just 10 while Guan has also spent practice time in Florida, something which shouldn't be viewed as coincidence.

Guan has spoken of how nervous he felt over the 5ft putt which sealed his Masters place and his hopes of encountering Woods.

"I'm so excited," he added. "I'm really happy to become the youngest player at the Masters and looking forward to going there. I don't know what's going to happen there but I know I just want to do well."

He later tweeted: "I want to win the US Masters at Augusta."

What Guan should be braced for is a considerable amount of attention, not least from the vast ranks of Asian media who travel to the Masters.

The teenager uses a long putter – and clearly rather successfully, too – a matter that will irk golfing traditionalists everywhere rather than only the denizens of Augusta. By April, it is not inconceivable the phase of outlawing that club from the professional game will be underway. At least Guan has time on his side if he needs a replacement.